What is the Current Inflation Rate?

Current US Inflation Rates:

Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in December 2025 is 2.68%

The Monthly Inflation page is consolidated here.  Consumer Price Index here.

Inflation is down from the June 2022 peak of 9.06%, but even moderate inflation can rapidly erode purchasing power and create uncertainty as businesses have more difficulty estimating future costs.

Factors Driving Current Inflation

• The primary factor driving today’s inflation is still the hangover from the massive money printing during and post-COVID.
• The FED followed a loose monetary policy for too long before reducing assets and raising interest rates.
• Initially, supply shortages during COVID spiked inflation, but now services are experiencing more price increases than commodities.

The forces driving service prices are very different from those that shape goods inflation—and they’ve been especially strong in recent years.

1. Labor is the main input in services-
Services like healthcare, housing, childcare, education, restaurants, and travel are labor-intensive. Wages make up a large share of costs, and when labor markets are tight, employers must raise pay. Those higher wages tend to stick, so service prices rise and stay elevated. In addition States like California have been forcing wages higher by raising the minimum wage.

2. Services can’t be easily automated or offshored-
Unlike goods, most services must be delivered locally and in person. A haircut, medical visit, or apartment lease can’t be imported from abroad or scaled quickly with technology, limiting cost competition and keeping upward pressure on prices.

3. Pent-up demand shifted toward services-
After pandemic restrictions eased, consumers shifted spending away from goods and back toward services like travel, dining, and entertainment. That surge in demand pushed prices higher in sectors with limited capacity.

4. Housing services move slowly but persistently-
Shelter costs—rent and owners’ equivalent rent—are a major part of inflation indexes. These prices adjust gradually but tend to rise steadily, making services inflation more persistent than goods inflation.

5. Goods inflation has cooled, services haven’t-
Global supply chains normalized, and goods prices stabilized or fell. Services, driven by wages and housing, adjust more slowly—so inflation increasingly shows up in services rather than goods.

Price Inflation vs. Monetary Inflation

Price Inflation is when prices get higher, or it takes more money to buy the same item, and this is what people commonly think of when they hear the word inflation. It is typically measured over the most recent 12 months and captures the immediate pressure consumers and businesses feel as everyday costs change—everything from groceries and rent to energy and healthcare. Economists most often track inflation using price indexes like the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which compare today’s prices with those from a year earlier.

Monetary inflation is the increase in the money supply. A rising money supply often results in price inflation. Policymakers watch the inflation rate closely, since it guides central bank actions on interest rates. If inflation is running too hot, tighter monetary policy may be used to slow demand. If it gets too low (approaching deflation), the FED may choose to lower interest rates to “support growth”.

When inflation is high, prices are rising rapidly. So each dollar buys less than it did the week or month before, squeezing household budgets and intensifying pressure for higher wages (which usually only come annually). For businesses, it can raise input costs and complicate pricing decisions.
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A common misunderstanding about Inflation:

Many people think that when inflation is falling, things are getting cheaper. But that is NOT the case. A falling inflation rate is called disinflation and simply means prices aren’t rising as quickly. You can think of inflation like how fast a car is going. 9% inflaton would be like going 90 miles per hour. If the car decelerates to 50 mph (5% inflation), it is still going forward, just not as fast (so prices are going up 5% a year instead of 9% a year). You can think of disinflation as “deceleration” or “slowing down” (going from 9% inflation to 5% inflation) or (going from 5% inflation to 3% inflation).

Zero inflation means the car is stopped (prices are neither rising nor falling), and going in reverse is deflation or falling prices, i.e., negative inflation (which has only happened a few times in the last 100 years. Recently, some prices have fallen like eggs and gasoline, while others have risen. The net effect is an average increase called the “inflation rate”.

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Current Annual Inflation Chart

From the chart, we can see inflation peaked in June 22 at 9.06%.

To view longer-term charts (1989-Present) and (2000-Present), go to Inflation Charts.

To read the BLS Commissioner’s report and see the most recent component breakdown (Table A),

go to: annual-inflation

Measuring Inflation

The most common measures of inflation in the U.S. include:

• CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers): Tracks the average change in prices for urban consumers.
• PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) Index: Used by the Federal Reserve to gauge inflation trends.
• Monthly vs. Annual Rates: Monthly inflation shows short-term changes, while annual rates provide a year-over-year perspective.

Consumer Price Index

The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) is said to be based upon a 1982 Base for ease of thought. But in actuality, the BLS set the index to an average for the period from 1982 through 1984 (inclusive) equal to 100, so there is no specific date when it was exactly 100. (If you check the table below, you will see it was somewhere between July and August of 1983.)

Understanding the CPI

A Consumer Price Index of 158 indicates 58% inflation since 1982/4, while a CPI index of 239 would indicate 139% inflation since 1982. The commonly quoted inflation rate of say 3% is actually the change in the Consumer Price Index from a year earlier. By looking at the change in the Consumer Price Index, we can see that an item that cost an average of 9.9 cents in 1913 would cost us about $1.82 in 2003, $2.02 in 2007, $2.33 in 2013, and $3.23 in 2025.

The following table lists the CPI index by month from 1913-Present.

Note: You can sort by “Year” or “Annual Average”. You can also enter a specific year in the search box to jump to that year. If you enter a year ending in zero (like 1980), it will display the entire decade.

Note: October 2025 numbers are the average of the two surrounding months because the BLS did not release numbers due to the government shutdown. Blank Cells indicate that the data is not available because it has not been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics yet.

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CPI Data Table

How to Calculate Inflation Effects

You can calculate the impact of  inflation on money using a simple formula: Current Value + (Current Value x Inflation Rate) = Inflated Cost

Example:

For example, from January 2024 – January 2025, prices increased 3.00%. Therefore, something that cost $100 in January 2024 would cost $100 + ($100 x 3%) in January 2025.  3.00% in decimals is 0.03. So, in this case, it would be $100+($100 x .03)= $103.00

You can also look at it the other way around and say if the inflation rate is 3%, $100 next year will only buy as much as $97 would buy this year.

Many online inflation calculators allow users to quickly see how historical inflation has affected purchasing power over time.
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The Rule of 72

Based on the Rule of 72, if inflation is 7.2%, it will take roughly 10 years for prices to double. Divide 72 by the inflation rate to get the number of years for prices to double. With 2.68% inflation, prices will double in roughly 26.9 years (72 ÷ 2.68=  26.86 years).

Prices doubling in 26 years may not seem so bad, but if you retire at 55 on a fixed income, your standard of living will halve by the time you are 81. And the retirement funds that you set aside at age 40 will only buy half as much by the time you reach 66.

Usually, high inflation rates also correspond to high interest rates as lenders need to compensate for the decline in purchasing power of future interest and principal repayments. This results in higher costs of doing business and places an overall drag on the economy. Currently, CDs and Savings accounts are paying more than they have in a long time. Currently, you can get 3.9% interest on a 60-month CD, which will actually give you a small positive return after inflation. Although if you have to pay taxes on the “gain,” you are about breaking even.

In a healthy economy, interest rates should exceed the inflation rate.

The inflation rate plays an important role in determining the health of an economy. Countries with extremely high inflation rates are said to have hyperinflation, and when this occurs, the economy is often near collapse. See: Hyperinflation in Turkey and Argentina and Hyperinflation- How a Trickle Can Turn into a Flood.
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U.S. Annual Inflation Rate in Percent

At InflationData, we calculate the Current Inflation rate (see table below) to two decimal places, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics only calculates inflation to one decimal place. Therefore, while being based on the same government Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), our data provides a “finer” view.

November and December 2025 are a perfect example, according to the government statistics, November =2.7%, and December =2.7%. However, our data shows inflation in November as 2.74% and December as 2.68%. Therefore, rather than both months being the same, inflation actually trended down slightly.

Conversely, we see that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2022 =8.5%, May 2022 =8.6%, and July 2022 =8.5%. However, our data showed inflation in March as 8.54%, in May as 8.58%, July as 8.52%. Therefore, we can see how little change actually occurred over this 3-month period. 

Current Inflation Table

Note: October 2025 data is estimated (average of September and November) due to a lack of official data. Just as with the CPI table, you can sort and search the table or change how many entries are displayed at a time.

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For a more in-depth commentary and projections of where the inflation rate is going, see Annual Inflation Rate CommentaryReturn to top

Monthly Inflation

Typically, when we talk about inflation, we are talking about the change in prices (price inflation) on a yearly or annual basis, i.e., how much prices have changed since last year. Generally, this is because the monthly changes are small and tend to fluctuate in both directions, but usually add up to measurable inflation on an annual basis. The annual inflation rate is made up of a combination of monthly rates. But often, the monthly rates presented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are “Seasonally Adjusted,” so you can’t just add those up to get the Annual Unadjusted Inflation Rate.

The following table presents the unadjusted monthly inflation rate, i.e., the rate of increase (or decrease) in the basket of goods and services tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics over the last month. In the complete table below, you may notice things like the fact that the last quarter of the year is more likely to have deflation, while the first quarter is more likely to be highly inflationary. Notice the red is primarily on the right side of the table. In the chart above, see how tall the bars are from January through June and how short they are from September through December. (except in 2021 when inflation was out of control).

Monthly Inflation Table

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Although these are the components of the Annual inflation rate, since inflation compounds, the annual inflation rate is not just the sum of the monthly inflation rates. But looking at the monthly rates can give you some perspective on how the Annual rate is going. And if we remove one month (from a year ago) and replace it with the most recent month, we don’t need to worry about compounding. So, if the most recent month is 0.1% larger than the month that was removed, Annual inflation will increase by 0.1%.

Often, you will have the occasional month that is negative (deflationary) that chips away at the overall annual inflation, but it is much rarer to have enough monthly deflation to actually result in annual deflation. Deflation (lower prices) on a monthly basis, but not resulting in annual deflation, is called “Disinflation“.

Monthly Inflation Chart 2020-2025

Typically, monthly inflation is highest from January through May, often in the 0.30% to 0.50% range. However, 2022 started with much higher than average monthly inflation…  0.84% (January), 0.91% (February), and 1.34% (March). This is high even for the first quarter of the year, when monthly inflation is already at its highest.

In January 2025, 0.65% replaced 2024’s 0.54%, so once again, Annual Inflation increased. In February 2025, 0.44% replaced 0.62%, causing an annual inflation decline. In March, we saw a large decline as 0.22% replaced 0.65%. But the April decline was very small, as 0.13% replaced 0.39%. Then, in June, a whopping 0.34% replaced a minuscule 0.03%, increasing annual inflation from 2.35% to 2.67%.

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You might also like:

• What is Hyperinflation?
• Cumulative Inflation
• The 3 Stages of Inflation
• History of Inflation in the United States
• Confederate Inflation
• Cumulative Inflation since 1913
• Does Inflation Increase Economic Output?
• How Inflation Destroys Civilization
• Inflation Causes Inequality
• Inflation Destroys More Than Money
• Have Wages Kept Up with Inflation
• Not All Prices Have Inflated Since 1964
• Inflation and Consumer Price Index- Decade Commentary
• WWI – The beginning of the CPI the Inflationary period 1913 – 1919
• The “Roaring Twenties” Inflation and Deflation 1920-1929
• The Great Depression and the Deflationary 1930′s– 1930-1939
• World War II — the volatile 1940′s– High and Low Inflation 1940-1949
• The 1950′s “Happy Days”– Inflation and CPI 1950-1959
• The 1960′s the age of possibility– Low Inflation 1960-1969
• The Inflationary 1970’s Inflation and CPI 1970-1979
• The Reagan Era Lower Inflation 1980-1989
• Data Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics